Contact: press@baldwin.senate.gov
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today introduced the Worker Owned Wealth Actto help Wisconsin workers get ahead by providing employees with tools and resources to become co-owners of the businesses where they work. Senator Baldwin announced the new legislation at Sentry Equipment, an employee-owned Made in Wisconsin manufacturer in Oconomowoc.
“We must do more to reward hard work and raise incomes for working families,” said Senator Baldwin. “Wisconsin has a rich history of employee-owned businesses that fosters innovation and increases productivity, and I’m proud to be encouraging more workers to establish and expand the employee-owned stakes in their companies. My Worker Owned Wealth Act will support Wisconsin workers by helping employees access the capital needed to purchase a stake in their company. As shareholders, workers have a greater say in the decision-making process, higher wages and greater job and retirement security.”
Senator Baldwin’s Worker Owned Wealth Act would encourage employee ownership business models like Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) or worker cooperatives that give workers a seat at the table and help employee-owners build wealth. These plans allow workers to become shareholders who have a greater say in a company’s decision-making, like who sits on the board of directors, wages, executive pay and decisions to expand or downsize, or keep the company in the community instead of relocating out of town or out of the country. Employee ownership is also good for business. Companies that are employee-owned are more likely to increase productivity and become more resilient to market downturns.
Specifically, the Worker Owned Wealth Act would:
· Improve access to capital by creating an Employee Ownership Revolving Loan Fund with in the Department of Treasury that would provide low-interest loans to employees seeking to purchase or grow a stake of their company.
· Incentivize private lending to employee ownership trusts by providing a tax deduction on the profits earned by financial institutions on these loans.
· Raise awareness about employee ownership by creating an Office of Employee Ownership and Worker Empowerment in the White House’s National Economic Council.
· Close the CEO-pay tax loophole for public companies that are not at least five percent employee owned.
Text of the Worker Owned Wealth Act is available here.
